


avalanche

by CheskaNova



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:27:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25628950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheskaNova/pseuds/CheskaNova
Summary: Drabble that kept me awake last night. Aldae will never give up on her brother.
Kudos: 1





	avalanche

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I had to write last night so I could get to sleep, much angst from my main girl Aldae. Set between the conclave explosion, spanning till the Herald heals the rift.

An explosion. Green? Screaming. Panic. _Lethallin._ Thunder. An avalanche. Rock. Rubble. People. Buildings. Mountain. 

Blackness.

Pounding. Crackling. Tugging. _Where is he?_ Smoke. Yells. Impact. Dirt. Blood.

Blackness.

Throbbing. Throbbing. _Amas..._ Throbbing.

Blackness.

\---

The healer said she's been lucky. Close enough to the blast to get caught; buried under the rubble. But that same rubble had protected her from further impacts that should have killed her, like the majority in the blast radius. Aldae did not feel lucky. Her shield arm, one ankle and a few ribs had been broken, reset and had magic energy poured into them to speed recovery. "We need as many soldiers as possible back on their feet right now" the healer had mumbled to himself. Aldae didn't have the energy or comprehension of thought to tell him she was not here to fight in any shem war. _Where was Amas?_

The sickly green light in the sky had reflected off what little white hair wasn’t stained by blood or dirt, buried though she was. She had been pulled from the rubble, along with other stragglers on the edge of the blast radius. Deaf to the world. Bleeding heavily. But alive. She couldn't stay conscious for more than a few minutes, simply trying to scan the environment for any suggestion of white hair. Pale skin. Distinctive vallaslin. Nothing.

Blackness, for a while longer. 

More noise this time, more movement. She'd been moved to a bunkhouse. Less of a line of sight, but she was grateful for the warmth. It didn't hurt to breathe as much. No Amas. It hurt to breathe again. 

Blackness, for much longer.

Jostling, and commotion. She'd been relocated to a row of outdoor cots, overseen by an exhausted healer just doing her best. A cold wind tickled her cheeks, drying the tears she didn't know were even there. It was chillier, but she could see more. Hear more. No white hair or pale skin or distinctive vallaslin. Whispers of some new herald, someone who could heal the sky? It looked bad. She needed to find her _lethallin._ Forcing herself out of the cot and to unsteady feet, Aldae could hear the healer yelling, before her ankle gave out and she collapsed once more into oblivion.

Blackness. For an untellable time. 

It took another day and a few dozen lyrium potions before Aldae could stand. Everything was fuzzy and the elfroot concoction for the pain was the strongest she'd ever had, but she was up. The sky seemed less angry, less swirling chaos than it had been. Her cot was outside the gates to the small village, set up near the soldiers barracks. A din of activity hummed from behind the gates, the immediate area vacant other than the other patients and their dozing ward. Aldae, hazy of mind and pained of body, hobbled towards the crowd. 

Murmurs permeated her tired brain from all around her of "he's awake" and "the herald lives". They could go ahead and shove this 'herald' up their blessed Andraste's arsehole, if he couldn't tell her where her brother was. Her brother. She leaned on a pillar of stone, trying to catch her breath. Scanning, always searching for that white hair. Nothing. The blackness threatened to creep back in. 

A heavy wooden door creaked open and a silence, heavy with reverence, hung over the still crowd. A figure creeped through the doorway, small and delicate, looking confused and awkward.

White hair.

Pale skin.

Distinctive vallaslin.

The blackness fought to take her but the light of her brother shone brighter, a guiding beacon that lifted her burdensome heart. Her feet moved as if possessed, as if one ankle wasn't forever damaged. Aldae heard a noise, like a halla crying to be freed from a shem's brutish trap. Low. Strangled. _Desperate._ People moved away from her, just like the darkness, fearful of the animalistic noise that was emanating from her. 

Amas was rushing towards her, lips moving, tears streaming down his face, but Aldae could only hear her own keening. They collided, and the darkess was gone, replaced by concerned embraces, kisses to the head, white hair (inherited from their long gone mother) tangling together, pale skin scarred and still dirty, distinctive vallaslin that highlighted the creases in the corner of his eyes as they cried together.

"Aldae. Aldae. Aldae." Her name was a promise on his lips, to never lose her again, to weather the oncoming storm together.

"Amas. Amas. Amas." His name, mumbled into an unfamiliar tunic but still _his smell_ was a promise to never leave him unprotected again. To spend her last breath on making sure he was safe. 

They stayed, wrapped up in one another on the hard ground until the crowd dispersed and a concerned brunette in inappropriately poofy clothes had approached them and offered to get them some cocoa if they just _come inside, please Herald._

The siblings shared a look that they knew well, a promise to disclose more information as soon as possible, just _stay by my side._

Aldae nodded. She took his hand in hers and let him lead. She would follow him anywhere.

**Author's Note:**

>  _lethallin:_ loved one


End file.
